Unravelling the effects of polaron conduction on mixed conductivity glasses

Abstract

Oxide glasses are the oldest ever-known glasses. Probably, silicate glasses are the most ancient material of industrial interest. However, glasses formed by another kind of oxides are of uppermost importance because of the special properties which they are able to develop for many applications in electronics, optics, biology, etc. Every oxide that originates a three-dimensional network built by corner connected oxygen polyhedral - with a particular coordination number- conforms a glassy matrix of singular properties. Such properties can be modified by the incorporation of other oxides. In the present chapter, it is analyzed polaron conductivity in the presence of large ion concentrations where the ionic conductivity is not negligible. The incorporation of alkaline metal oxides in non-conventional oxide glasses enlarges the number of mobile cations, which affects the transportation of the polaron (given by the presence of transition metal oxides), through the glassy matrix.